Class Visit

Monday morning Elizabeth walked her kids up the front steps to Viola's, who warmly greeted them at the door.

"Come on in guys! Did you eat breakfast this morning?" Viola asked.

"They did, but knowing them they'll eat whatever you offer too." She smiled, placing Asher down on the floor. He took off as fast as his little legs would carry him.

"You look nice," Viola said, taking in her sister's blue dress and red sweater.

"Thanks." Elizabeth smiled. She'd put a little extra effort into her appearance that morning.

"Oh I get it." Viola gave her sister a knowing look. "Someone special's coming to visit his penpals today, right?"

"Yes, not sure what that has to do with my outfit though." Nervously, she smoothed out her dress.

"Oh my goodness! You are so adorable! Can I take a picture for Julie?" She reached for her phone.

"What? No!" Elizabeth covered her face, laughing. "What's gotten into you this morning?"

"I'm sorry, Beth. You're just being so adorable over Jack right now."

"I'm not being adorable. I'm being professional." she scolded, hands on her hips.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Elizabeth wasn't convincing anyone, especially herself. "When you have a guest coming into your class it's appropriate to dress nicely."

"Uh huh. And was it professionalism that had you giggling and smiling at the gorgeous soldier at lunch yesterday?"

"Be serious Vi! I'm not Julie, I do not giggle at men!"

"I know you don't! That's why I'm smiling so much right now."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm leaving. Bye bye sweethearts!" She blew kisses to her kids who were currently enjoying their second breakfast. They both waved back blowing her kisses as well.

Viola watched her sister from the window as she drove of. "Lord, I can't help but get excited at how happy she seemed yesterday. I don't want to push her but I want her to be happy with someone. She deserves to be happy like that. Help her out with this? Let this Jack guy be a good one." She smiled, walking back to the mess that now covered her kitchen table.

…..

On the other side of town, Jack readied himself for his visit to the classroom. He was excited to meet the kids, and even more excited to see Elizabeth again. Elizabeth had planned for Jack to come in during the period before lunch. He looked at his watched.

He took a look at himself in the mirror. Making sure the pieces of his uniform were all in order. "Here we go. I think I have time for one stop." He grinned.

In the classroom, Elizabeth's students were getting ready for their math lesson. Not their favorite subject. Little did they know math was going to be canceled on account of their special guest.

"Ok class, time for a little math lesson!" A chorus of groans rang out loud and clear. "Alright alright, let's see. How many of you wrote letters to Captain Thornton?" Everyone's hands went up. "Okay, I want you each to tell me how many you wrote."

She wrote all the numbers up on the board, and continued to do the same with their emails as well.

"Now, who can tell me how many that is all together?

"173," Jack answered from the doorway. "And I kept every single one of them." He smiled at the kids. They were all jumping up and down, excited to finally meet their friend. Jack walked up to Elizabeth as she stood by the chalkboard and handed her a beautiful bouquet of daisies.

"Thank you," she said, trying so hard not to blush. He looked handsome and strong in his uniform. "Class, I'd like to introduce you to our friend, Captain Jack Thornton!" The class cheered as she had Jack take a seat on a stool in the front of the classroom. She placed a hand on his shoulder as she continued. "Now I'm sure you all have lots of questions for him, so let's all be on our best behavior and raise our hands, understood?"

"Yes Ms. Thatcher," they replied.

"All yours Jack," she whispered, sending a shiver down his spine.

"Alright! How are you all doing today?"

"Good!" they said.

"Glad to hear it!" He began talking with the kids about his tour, showing them pictures and even showing them how MRE's worked and allowed them each to taste a bite of one. He laughed watching all their faces turn sour as they tried it.

"This my friends is called Pork Chow Mein, and I ate a lot of it over there."

"This is gross Captain Thornton!" Timmy yelled.

"Don't I know it!" he laughed.

"Then why'd you eat it so much?" Miles asked.

"Well, sometimes we were away from the main base for a while, and these are what we had for food. If we weren't traveling we'd eat at the mess all, but to honest, that wasn't any better sometimes." They laughed as he made a funny face.

Elizabeth stood back and watched, he seemed to be in his element. Jack allowed them all to ask all sorts of questions, having a grand time.

"Andrew, go head." Elizabeth called on the next raised hand.

"Captain Thornton, did you have a favorite letter that we sent?" the young man asked.

"Hmm, that's a tough one. You know I don't think so. See, each one of your letters were different and special to me. I will say I loved the pictures you sent a lot and the care packages were great as well."

"Did you like the maple candies? Those were my idea!" Jennifer said excitedly.

"I did very much! I shared them with my friends, hope that was okay?" She nodded.

Elizabeth scanned the room. "James, your turn."

"Did you have to kill anybody over there?" The class gasped.

"James Martin that is an inappropriate question. Would you like to ask another?" Elizabeth scolded.

"Actually Elizabeth, if I may?" Jack asked quietly. She looked in his eyes, feeling like she could trust him and nodded.

"So James, that's a tough question to answer. What I will say, is at the end of it all, we try not to think of that. See sometimes with this job we have to do hard things. We don't like it, but we do what we need to do to protect good people and keep them safe." The boy nodded. "In the end, what we look back on is the friends we've served with. Sometimes we lose friends, sometimes they get hurt. I was lucky, this time we all came back alive. Though some were hurt. Does that answer your question enough?" he asked sympathetically.

"Yes sir. Thanks."

Wow, Elizabeth thought to herself with a smile.

Soon it was time for lunch and the class begged Jack to stay and play outside with them after. He graciously agreed.

Out at recess Elizabeth watched from up on a little hill as the girls "oohed" and "awed" at Jack as the boys tried to impress him with their soccer skills. She loved watching them. Jack already knew most of kids names and seemed to be having a great time with them.

After a while Jack excused himself from the game and joined Elizabeth up on the hill.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." She smiled.

"I am." He laughed as he dusted himself off and sat beside her. "They're great kids."

"They are. I love kids, and to be honest I've never had a bad class, but these guys have been my favorites yet."

Jack nodded, a smile etched in his face.

"You did wonderful in there with all of them. Especially answering James's question."

"Ah yeah. I figured someone would ask that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah well, when I was a boy I would have asked the same thing. I tried to come up with an answer that would work, without really getting into it."

"It's hard huh? Thinking about it all?"

"It can be." Jack stared off towards the clouds. Elizabeth wondered where his mind had gone, he seemed almost lost.

"Thank you for the flowers by the way. They're beautiful."

"You're very welcome." he smiled.

"Daisies are my favorite."

"I remember." She looked up confused. "In one of your emails you said you were learning to make a skirt for your daughter with a daisy pattern on the fabric. You said then they were your favorite."

"Oh, right," she said softly, moving her curls behind her ear.

Jack couldn't stop smile at her. She was simply beautiful. Her deep blue eyes reflecting the light of the sun.

"You know, I'm not sure you ever told me how the skirt turned out though?"

"Oh well, the first one was a disaster, the second I sewed to my sleeve, but the third turned out wonderful." She laughed. "I think I have a picture on my phone. She grabbed her phone finding the picture.

"Oh wow, Mya is adorable." He gushed. "I think she looks a lot like you."

"That's what people say," she smiled bashfully.

"It's true." His gaze was intense as he looked at her. He wanted more time with her. Time to say the things he couldn't say outside with a group of 5th graders nearby. He sat there trying to think of something he could do to fix that.

"I'm going to have my hands full today." Elizabeth laughed watching the kids run around. "They're all so energized from your visit."

"Oh I'm sorry. It's probably the Afghan candies I brought in huh?"

"Oh no, I'm sure they were just excited to see you." So was I.

As recess was ended, Elizabeth began ushering her very hyper students back inside for their science lesson. Jack stood at the doorway saying goodbye to each kid with a high five as they entered. Dropping his hand as Elizabeth approached.

"What, I don't get one?" she teased. He lifted his hand giving her a high five as well, but when their hands met, he turned his hand to hold hers. Looking behind him he noticed the students all occupied and not paying any attention to him at all.

"Thank you for inviting me to your class Ms. Thatcher." He brought her hand to his lips giving it a tender kiss.

"You're welcome Captain Thornton." She could feel her face turning bright pink.

….

Jack left the school and headed over to the Hope Valley Police station. As he drove down the familiar road, he analyzed his actions at the school.

"Shoot, was that too forward of me? Kissing her hand like that? She seemed happy, her face turning all red. Man she's beautiful. And my lips on her skin… I have to do that again. Or was she red because she was embarrassed and wished I had never done it. Crap… which is it?"

He was so lost in thought he passed the turn off for the station. Cursing, he pulled a u-turn at the next light.

Jack walked into the station, which smelled like old coffee and laughed. "Man guys, this place stinks. Do I need to show you lot how to make real coffee?"

"Jack!" a number of officers called out, coming over to greet him, giving him many pats on the back and hugs.

"So are you back on the force or just visiting?" Jimmy asked.

"Today I'm just visiting, but soon I'll be back."

"Good, we need a guy like you around."

"Trouble in the valley?" Jack asked concerned.

"Nothing too terrible but the drug problem downtown seems to be increasing daily and we've had a series of robberies in the business section. Nothing we can't handle, I just know you're a good officer."

"Well I appreciate that. I'm going to talk to the chief and see about coming back next week."

"Sounds good. And again, welcome home."

Jack talked to a few more coworkers before finding his way back to Bill's office.

"Knock knock," Jack called out from the doorway.

"Well hello again, Jack. Good to see you."

"You too. Figured I'd come in today while I was out and see about coming back."

"Great, when are you thinking?"

"Maybe next week?"

"Can do. Say, what's with the uniform? Can't bare to take it off?" Bill teased.

"Oh, no." Jack laughed. "I visited Elizabeth's class today. Figured since I was their soldier penpal I should look the part."

"I see." Bill grinned, leaning back in his chair. "And how was that?"

"Good. Her students are great and it was nice to see her again." Jack answered. Unable to hide his grin. Bill smiled back at him, but Jack could tell he had more to say.

"Elizabeth is a special person, Jack."

"Yes, she is."

The two officers studied each others faces.

"You can say whatever you want to say Bill." Jack assured.

"How well do you know Elizabeth?"

"Pretty well, I feel. I know there's a great deal more to learn though." Bill nodded. "We wrote letters and emails to each other for months."

Bill looked at Jack square in the eyes. "You're a good man Jack. I imagine I have nothing to worry about here but nevertheless, I just want to ask that you take care as you explore your… friendship with her."

"Understood, sir."

"I mean no disrespect."

"Of course not." The two men sat quietly for a few moments before Jack spoke again. "May I ask, have you ever met him? Charles, I mean."

Bill sighed. "Yes, I did this past year. We were at the Thatchers for Christmas and he came to see the kids." Jack nodded. "Seems harmless, but I don't trust him. He seems to stay out of the picture quite a bit so chances are you won't cross paths with him much. But if you two make something of this, that will be different."

"Right. I just can't fathom why he would do all he did."

"Who knows. It's his loss." Jack nodded again.

"Well I should go. Just let me know what day you'd like me to start and I'll be in." They shook hands and Jack left.

….

Elizabeth walked back down the hall after dismissal towards her classroom. She was exhausted, there was no calming her students down after Jack left. They were just too excited. She smiled as she remembered just how good he was with them.

She plopped down in her desk chair. "Oh I could easily fall asleep here." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, picking up the scent of the flowers she had received earlier. She opened her eyes and reached for them. Running her fingers over their silky petals.

Elizabeth thought for a moment. Normally after a day like today she would have emailed Jack, asking him how is day was, and tell him a fun story about her students. She'd wait a day or two and usually get a response. He'd tell her a fun story from his downtime, a pickup football game or something. She realized then just how much she didn't want to lose that or him.

She picked up her phone, "Here goes nothing."

E: What was in those candies you gave them? Espresso? ;)

She set the phone back down and went to tidy up for the next day.

*beep beep*

She quickly ran back to her desk for her phone.

J: Oh uh, that bad? Hah.

E: Just a little :) I ended our english lesson short so they could go outside. That seemed to help.

J: Smart woman ;)

Elizabeth was smiling. "I guess I need to admit I like you Jack Thornton. Please don't break my heart." she sighed.

After another 30 minutes she grabbed her purse and locked up her classroom for the night.

She was looking for her keys in her purse out in the parking lot when she heard his voice.

"Grande iced caramel macchiato miss?" Jack said with a smile.

"Are you for real?" Elizabeth giggled as she accepted the cup, taking a sip. "Oh that amazing, thank you."

"You're welcome, though to be honest I should be clear I had ulterior motives."

"Oh?" she shot him a playful questioning look.

"Mhmm. I was wondering if you would take a walk with me?"

She bit her bottom lips, his caring eyes made her heart swell. "Give me a sec?" She handed her back drink back to him and pulled out her phone.

E: Hey Vi. Can the kids hang out with you a little longer?

V: Of course. Whats up?

E: A walk with a certain penpal.

V: Oh, definitely! Take all the time you need!

Jack stood there watching her while taking the occasional sip of his own drink. He loved the way the sun seemed to bounce off her silky hair and how the corner of her mouth curl up, fighting a smile.

"Vi can watch the kids a little longer so… yes, I'd love to take a walk with you." she said with a smile.

"Great, there's some trails back behind the school I believe. That sound ok?" she nodded as he handed her her drink and led her back behind the school.

"Thank you for the drink. The kids really wore me out today."

"Yeah, I figured you could use a good jolt before heading back to Mya and Asher." They laughed.

"How'd you know this was my favorite drink?" she asked taking another sip.

"You told me." he grinned. "I mentioned once that I missed good coffee and you shared that whenever you had a rough day this always did the trick. You liked it hot in the winter and fall and iced in the spring and summer."

"Wow, you remember?"

"Yeah." He glanced over at her, hoping to catch her gaze. When he did, they smiled nervously at each other.

Jack was simply enjoying being with her, even though things were a little awkward. It seemed transitioning their friendship from penpal to face to face might be harder than he thought. They just needed to break the ice somehow.

"Jack, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why did you let me keep calling you Jarrick all those months if you actually go by Jack?"

"Ah, good question." he said rubbing his neck, something she realized he did when he was nervous. She found it adorable. "My dad used to call me Jarrick. When he died a few years back, no one else dared call me that, afraid they'd make me sad or something. I guess I missed it. Something about you calling me that felt nice." She nodded. "I'm sorry, I guess I should have said something."

"No, it's fine." She giving him a playful nudge. "Its sweet, and if it helped you over there I'm glad. Should I call you Jarrick now and then?" They laughed.

"Sure."

"Done." she smiled sweetly up at him.

They walked a little further, neither saying a word. Both unsure how to go about this. They came across and old narrow metal bridge over a small stream. Jack stood to the side to allow Elizabeth to across first, but she hesitated.

"Are you sure that's safe?" she questioned.

"The bridge? I think so. Want me to go first?"

"Yes please." she said sheepishly.

"Alright, but only because you look so adorable right now." He winked, making an embarrassingly large grin form on her face.

He walked on, jumping on the middle just a bit to test it. "A little wet but seems alright," he said as he walked off.

Elizabeth gingerly stepped on the to the bridge to cross. She was halfway across when her legs slipped out from under her.

Jack heard a loud boom and turned back quickly, running to Elizabeth. There she was, sitting on her butt, legs spread out in front of her laughing.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" He knelt down, brushing the hair out of her face to find her laughing uncontrollably.

"This is so embarrassing! I've been trying so hard this whole time to come off poised and collected and this is what I get!"

He cupped her face, laughing along with her. "Are you serious?" She nodded. Jack stood and held out his hands, helping her up. She looked into his deep brown eyes. Feeling as if she could lose herself in them.

"It's kind of weird isn't it? Being together after writing all those months?" she asked, staring down at her hands which were still in his.

"Yeah. I'll admit I don't know how to navigate this." He let out a small laugh. "I look at you and you kind of make my brain stop working. It's a little unfair," he teased.

"Well if it helps… you have the same effect on me." she spoke softly. Her breath catching in her chest as his thumb gently caressed her hand.

"Huh, I think I like that." His gaze traveled from her eyes to her lips. He wanted so badly to kiss her, but was now the time? He decided to confess something instead. "I should tell you, I lied earlier with the class. They asked if I had a favorite letter and I said no. Truth is, I do. I just didn't want to say it in front of them."

"Oh?"

"You see, any letter or email that I got from you is my favorite." he squeezed her hands gently. "Thank you Elizabeth, for all you did for me while I was deployed. You became a wonderful part of my life over there and now that I'm back… I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either," she admitted. "But Jack you need to know, its hard for me to trust people. I know we wrote to each other a lot over the past 11 months and I feel as though I can trust you but..."

"You can. I promise you Elizabeth, you can trust me. Look last thing I want to do is rush you or make you uncomfortable. But I just feel like we can't not see if what we've got going on here could lead to something real and amazing."

Her heart was beating hard in her chest at his words.

"I care about you, Elizabeth."

She looked back down at their hands, already loving the feeling of her hands in his. It felt like home.

"I care about you too, Jack. I loved your messages. Every last one. We learned so much about each other through them and now meeting you in person…" she sighed. "I just don't know how to do this, especially with the kids. I have to consider them too. They're my world, Jack."

"As they should be. You have two great kids. They should come first here." She nodded, a few tears escaping her eyes. Jack let go of her hand for a moment to wipe her tears. "We'll take it as slow as you like, alright? Maybe start out just trying to get to know each other better? Just give me a chance."

Elizabeth looked back down at their hands. Noticing again how perfectly they seemed to fit together. She looked up into his eyes, feeling as if she could see into his soul. She had nothing to fear with Jack. She knew him. Those countless months of writing and sharing stories weren't for nothing. That brought them here.

Her delay was beginning to make him nervous. He knew they hadn't known each other for long but in his heart he felt at home with her.

"Yes," she spoke softly with a grin.

Jack quickly pulled her into a hug, wanting to hold her close before pulling back slightly.

"I meant everything I said before. You can trust me." He moved a stray curl back behind her ear. "I care about you. Mya and Asher too."

She nodded with a smile. Revealed to have things more out in the open now. They'd effectively broken the awkwardness between them. There was no more pen pal and school teacher. They were simply Jack and Elizabeth.